My Cruise Adventures

Afterthoughts

I think we may have a winner in the favorite cruise line category. This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise, and we were not sure what to expect. What we found is not easy to describe, but I'll attempt to do so. It is at least as fun as Carnival, if not more so, due to things like the climbing wall, FlowRider, and ice skating rink. It seems to have more competent fun - it is done with more flair and executed better. The entire experience was better than Princess, and way better than Holland America or Celebrity.

The food was excellent in all respects. The breakfast buffet menu never varied, but it seemed to have most of what we wanted. The main dining room food was excellent even if the selection was more limited than previous cruises. The room service menu, however, deserves serious expansion.

The entertainment was extremely professional, and the cruise director was very good - funny, competent. The activities were many and varied. When we missed our port at Labadee (big disappointment there, but they cannot control the weather), they added activities and reprinted the daily newsletter within an hour.

One thing that made the trip stand out was the staff. Let's start out with our assistant waiter, Irena, from Russia. She was perpetually in a good mood, and spent a lot of time talking to us at dinner and breakfast (once we found her area in the buffet, we always went there). Her enthusiasm was infectious.

Our waiter, Blake, was from Jamaica. Since I had lived in Jamaica as a teenager, we were able to connect on a deeper level (he lived near where my father worked). He was also enthusiastic, and very competent.

Our cabin stewardess, Bernadette, was also from Jamaica, and was happy to find out I lived there and had visited her town (Montego Bay). When one of our bottles of rum failed to appear on the last night, she made it her quest to track it down and deliver it to my cabin. She also invited us to come visit the next time we were in her neighborhood. She made towel animals every night, including some we had never seen before.

I exchanged email addresses with all of them and hope to continue our friendships.

We plan on sailing Royal Caribbean again in the future, perhaps the Voyager out of Galveston, or the new huge Oasis once prices drop in a year or so. I think this line is our new favorite, and I cannot wait to see more of their ships.